Offa’s Dyke

Race Reports

Well after numerous stories of the tough hills ahead, let’s say I was little nervous!

 I woke up to find that finally it was no longer raining, hurrah! However, typically, once it was time to compete the heavens opened. (A very welcome relief once the race had started!)

The race started in Hay, under the town clock. It was great to see a variety of colour among the club vests that had obviously travelled miles for the race: Aberstywyth, Reading, Swansea, Kent and Wolverhampton, just to name a few. Within the sea of runners, I felt proud to see so many of my Croft team mates (15 in all) in the blue vests.

There were definitely a fair few tough uphill slogs that live up to the race’s hilly reputation. My race strategy was to keep Dave George in eye shot and use him as my pacer to keep me going, a tough challenge to set myself I know!

When I finally reached Gladestry I had reached home turf, one more MASSIVE uphill then it was all downhill to the finish in my home town of Kington. The uphill climb back over the Ridge to Kington definitely feels a lot shorter on a sunny afternoon after a couple of pints at the Royal Oak!

At this point with about 3.5 miles left of the course (still feeling relatively fresh) I decided to push on uphill where I met two fellow Crofters, Dave G and Will.

I finished in a time of 2.02.50 (1 second off Patrick Pearson’s 1999 time!) coming in the top 20 at 17th. This made me the 1st Crofter to make it to the finish line. I am not going to lie this was a great feeling!

The race was won by Matt Collins of MMRT in a time of 1.44.32, followed in by Eamonn Kirk running for Vegan Runners in 1.46.02 and third was George Fisher in 1.47.04

Will Hayward coming in at 2.05.28 & Dave George coming in at 2.06.57 and together we managed to achieve winning the Race Shield for 1st place men’s team!

Other Croft placings:

Matt Moffatt       41st     2.10.45

Patrick Pearson  58th     2.17.10

Ian Price              69th     2.21.34 (1st MV65)

Ed Smith              95th     2.28.41

Jo Marriott         103rd    2.30.41

Tom D/Dave R   113/4   2.35.24

Brian D                 132nd  2.42.15

Gary G                  144th  2.46.50

Crispin M              146th  2.48.11

Carol P                   147th  2.48.48 (fantastic! 15 miles!)

Dave R (snr)         164th  3.03.16

 

1 thought on “Offa’s Dyke

  1. Great race report Greg. You ran so well, a fantastic result!
    I love the fact you said your legs were still feeling relatively fresh with just 3.5 miles to go….mine felt like I’d chopped them off at that stage I was running so slow!!!
    Great team result for Croft. Well done.
    All in all, a very scenic but very tough route (for me it was!)

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